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Tricky Love Affair: Suspension of the Dutch Ambassador to China over Beijing Romance

The suspension of the Dutch ambassador to China over an alleged love affair with a local employee made headlines earlier this week. On Weibo, Chinese netizens wonder what the fuss is about.

Manya Koetse

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The suspension of the Dutch ambassador to China over an alleged love affair with a local employee made headlines earlier this week. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf has now revealed more details on the affair. On Weibo, Chinese netizens wonder what the fuss is about.

The suspension of the Dutch ambassador to China made headlines in the Netherlands on October 17. The 58-year old diplomat Ron Keller was reportedly suspended from his post after reports of a secret relationship between him and a local employee.

The affair became international news when the BBC also reported Keller’s suspension, followed by various Chinese media outlets such as Sina and Tencent, which all published that that Keller – who is unmarried – was under investigation for having an affair with a Chinese woman.

“Less experienced officials were warned by UK government security experts to avoid the lure of “Chinese spies offering sex”.”

The Dutch government warns diplomats not to start romantic relationships with locals due to the dangers of the so-called ‘honeytrap’ – the risk of local agents working as spies. This kind of love affairs makes diplomats more vulnerable to blackmail, with the risk of leaking sensitive information.

In the article “From China with Love“, Irish Times reporter Peter Cluskey writes that the threat of a honeytrap is nothing new and that foreign diplomats arriving in China are routinely advised against relationships with local staff due to the risk of being “compromised” by agents of the Chinese government.

He also reports that during the G20 summit in Hangzhou, less experienced officials were warned by UK government security experts to avoid the lure of “Chinese spies offering sex.”

Although Keller must have been aware of the risk, it did not stop him from starting an intimate relationship with a female member of the local staff, who allegedly visited Keller at his private Beijing residence on numerous occasions.

Ron Keller, picture by ad.nl.

Ron Keller, picture by ad.nl.

Today, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf comes with new details on the Keller affair.

“Sources call Keller a ‘true womanizer’, who was also known to be flirtatious with women during his former work as ambassador.”

According to De Telegraaf journalist Marcel Vink, the Chinese woman on Keller’s staff involved in the scandal is Mandy Xia, a woman from Fuzhou who has been working in the Dutch embassy in Beijing since 7 years.

Xia studied at Beijing’s Dance Academy, and with her expertise in the field of art, dance, music and theater, she became the Cultural Affairs Officer at the Dutch embassy in December 2009.

Mandy Xia, picture published by De Telegraaf.

Mandy Xia, picture published by De Telegraaf.

Ambassador Keller was and Xia worked closely together at times, such as during their visit to Chinese multinational Wanda Productions.

The Telegraaf writes that according to its sources, ambassador Keller and Ms. Xia were not just involved in a romantic relationship but also exchanged compromising photographs.

Sources interviewed by the Dutch newspaper calls Keller a “true womanizer” who was also known to be flirtatious with women during his former work as an ambassador in Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey. He was appointed as the Dutch ambassador to China nine months ago, and his affair with Xia allegedly started not long after his first period in Beijing.

“It is a basic human right for this unmarried man to have a relationship with a Chinese woman.”

While the Keller affair became big news in the Netherlands and beyond, many Chinese social media users do not see what the fuss is about. “This is a single guy, so what!?”, was one of the most recurring comments on Weibo and other Chinese social media sites where the Keller case was discussed by many.

Some netizens think it is ironic that while foreign diplomats in China stress the importance of human rights, they do not have the right to choose their own girlfriends: “It is a basic human right for this unmarried man to have a relationship with a Chinese woman. Why are you talking about human rights to us?”, one netizen comments.

Although many netizens think the woman just was attracted to Keller because of his position (“She wants to be the wife of an ambassador,”) there are also those who are sure that the affair is a honeytrap (měirénjì 美人计), saying: “This woman clearly is a special agent (特工)!”

One article on WeChat compares Keller to the ambassador of Spain, Manuel Maria Valencia Alonso, who also caused controversy in 2015 for his affair with Chinese writer Zhu Zhiping. The woman exposed their affair, that began in 2013 – when the ambassador was married -, by writing a book titled Mr. Ambassador.

The Spanish ambassador and Zhu Zhiping.

The Spanish ambassador and Zhu Zhiping.

Zhu Zhiping alleged that the ambassador abruptly cut off their relationship in 2015, after which she spotted him with another woman. When she confronted him, he slapped her in the face, she said. She later protested at the Spanish Embassy, saying it was a place for the ambassador “to play around with Chinese females.”

Protest at the embassy.

Protest at the embassy.

But in the case of Keller, many people keep stressing the fact that he is an unmarried man, and that his relationship to Xia is therefore not an illicit love affair: “This is just two people who love each other, what’s the big deal?”, one person comments.

Although there are no indications that the relationship between Xia and Keller involved any kind of ‘honeytrap’, the ambassador has now been suspended and is currently back in the Netherlands.

– By Manya Koetse
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Featured image: Keller, the Dutch embassy (Weibo), Mandy Xia (iFeng News, 2011).

©2016 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

Manya Koetse is the founder and editor-in-chief of whatsonweibo.com. She is a writer, public speaker, and researcher (Sinologist, MPhil) on social trends, digital developments, and new media in an ever-changing China, with a focus on Chinese society, pop culture, and gender issues. She shares her love for hotpot on hotpotambassador.com. Contact at manya@whatsonweibo.com, or follow on Twitter.

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China Media

Meanwhile in Panda News: After More Than Two Decades, Yaya Returns to Beijing

From Memphis to Shanghai to Beijing: every step in Yaya’s journey is closely followed by China’s panda fans.

Manya Koetse

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Yaya, the panda, made her way back to Beijing after a residence of more than two decades at the Memphis Zoo and completing her quarantine period in Shanghai. Now, netizens are advocating for the return of three other pandas currently residing in the United States.

It is time for the third ‘Meanwhile in Panda News‘ by What’s on Weibo to keep you updated on the trending panda topics, from the cute to the controversial.

This time, it is all about Yaya (丫丫), the panda that is trending on Weibo in various hashtags these days:

Panda Yaya became one of the most discussed pandas of this year. This female panda resided in the Memphis Zoo in the United States for most of her life and attracted significant attention on Chinese social media platforms after netizens expressed concern about her seemingly thin and unhealthy appearance.

Many netizens were concerned about Yaya due to the condition of her fur. Photo via Weibo user @如皋老猫.

Even though the Memphis care team stated that Yaya’s fur condition is related to her hormones and immune system, these online discussions further intensified in light of escalating tensions between the United States and China.

The concerns surrounding Yaya prompted an online campaign, with netizens advocating for Yaya’s return to China. After residing at the Memphis Zoo in the United States for two decades as part of a conservation and research project, Yaya’s second ten-year term had concluded, and the 23-year-old panda was set to return to Shanghai, China.

Yaya’s return in late April became a true social media spectacle, fuelled by state media outlets that created special posters and videos welcoming Yaya home.

Now, a month later, Yaya is trending again. This time, it is her move from Shanghai to Beijing that is hitting the trending lists. After finishing her quarantaine, Yaya’s new home will be in the Beijing Zoo. Yaya returned to China’s capital, where she was born, by airplane on May 28.

China’s flight home, via Chinese state media on Weibo.

While many people are cheering that Yaya has finally returned home, they are also sad that panda Lele is not with her. Lele (乐乐) was Yaya’s male partner, and the two arrived in Memphis together. Unfortunately, Lele passed away earlier this year due to heart disease.

Around 4 am in the morning on May 29, the official Weibo account of the Beijing Zoo posted a statement about Yaya’s return, confirming that the panda had arrived before 1 am on Monday morning.

A very early morning post by Beijing Zoo confirming the safe arrival of Yaya (screenshot of Weibo, via What’s on Weibo).

Beijing Zoo further wrote that Yaya has her own dedicated enclosure and will need some time to adjust to her new environment and will not be shown to the public for now. They did post a photo and a video of Yaya’s arrival, and promised to give more updates about Yaya via social media.

“Yaya has finally returned home,” some commenters said, “I hope she will have a happy and healthy life there.”

In the meantime, netizens have launched a new online campaign advocating for the repatriation of the pandas Xiao Qiji (小奇迹), Tiantian (添添), and Meixiang (美香), currently residing at the Washington National Zoo.

“They also wanna go home” poster advocating for the return of Chinese pandas Little Miracle, Tiantian, and Meixiang. Source: Weibo.com.

Those advocating for the return of the three pandas are also expressing concerns about their well-being and treatment at the Washington National Zoo. They worry that the pandas may not be receiving adequate food and are particularly concerned about Meixiang’s health.

In 2020, it was reported that the panda couple Meixiang and her partner Tiantian would minimally stay in Washington until December of 2023.

Another poster in the online campaign to advocate for the return home of the three pandas.

Concerned that Meixiang might face a similar fate to Yaya’s late partner Lele, panda enthusiasts on Weibo are urging for the prompt repatriation of the entire panda family. “I’m glad to hear good news about Yaya,” expressed one Weibo user, “Now, I hope we can get good news about Meixiang too.”

 

Read more panda news here.

By Manya Koetse 

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©2023 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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China Insight

Why a “High-Speed Train Slapping Incident” Went Viral on Chinese Social Media

An altercation between passengers on a high-speed train to Chengdu has caused a stir on Chinese social media, sparking discussions about some long-standing social issues.

Manya Koetse

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An explosive argument between two female passengers on a high-speed train has gone viral on Chinese social media this week. The fight has triggered widespread discussions on the issue of ‘mutual assault,’ the problem of ‘brat children,’ and why it might be wiser to avoid intervening in these types of disputes altogether.

An argument between two female passengers on a Chinese high-speed train has recently attracted a lot of attention on Chinese social media. (See video, around the 4:10 mark.)

The incident, which has been dubbed “the high-speed rail slapping incident” (“高铁掌掴事件”), happened on the C6276 train on May 2, 2023, between Meishan East Railway Station and Chengdu East Railway station.

Two female passengers seated on the train got into an argument after one woman (Wang 王) got angry over the other woman’s children kicking against the back of her seat. She turned around and scolded them, after which the mother (named Yang 杨) got upset. Both women took their phones and argued while filming each other.

The situation soon escalated from there, and the argument turned physical when Yang first slapped Wang in her face. Several videos of the incident that have since gone viral show that Wang then also slapped Yang in the face, and did it again shortly after.

Train staff and other passengers tried to mediate the situation and calm the women down. One man in specific raised his voice to mediate, while also condemning the parents for not correcting their children’s behavior.

Wang posted about the incident on social media on the night of May 2nd, and it has blown up since then.

Wang was later summoned to the police station and reportedly was fined 200 yuan ($30) by the police for her role in the incident. On the night of May 4th, Wang arrived at the police station at 8 pm, and did not leave until 3.30 am.

In a video posted online, the woman explained that she refused to reconcile with the other party, insisting that they should receive the appropriate punishment for their actions (#高铁上被掌掴女孩坚决不和解#). She said she would accept the fine she received, but stressed that the party that initiated the fight should be punished more harshly.

“To give each one a flogging of fifty strokes” (各打五十大板)

One of the main reasons why the case became so big is because the incident was ruled as “mutual assault” (hù’ǒu 互殴). On Chinese social media, many netizens express that the judgement is not correct since Yang was the first to attack and Wang defended herself (zhèng dàng fáng wèi 正当防卫).

The issue of self-defense being ruled as a ‘mutual assault’ is a recurring one in Chinese social media discussions. A popular opinion is that the police often rule something as ‘mutual assault’ to just settle the matter and be done with it. This is also referred to as gè dǎ wǔshí dà bǎn (各打五十大板), a Chinese idiom that translates to “each person gets a flogging of fifty strokes,” meaning the guilty and innocent are being punished in the same way.

One post about the issue by Sina News received nearly 225,000 likes on Weibo.

Since the slapping incident continued to trigger discussions online, the Chengdu Railway Police issued a statement on May 10, in which they provided exact details on how the incident unfolded. They concluded that both parties were guilty of assault, and that Wang had received the 200 yuan ($30) fine while Yang had received an administrative penalty of 500 yuan ($72).

Still, many people feel that punishing the instigator as well as the person who strikes back is not fair, since it allegedly prevents people from trying to defend themselves.

“The woman who was beaten showed great perseverance,” one person commented: “Hopefully, this case can serve as a milestone event, thoroughly correcting the society’s long-standing habit of taking this approach [of ruling it as ‘mutual assault’] to smooth things over.”

In 2020, Jeremy Daum at China Law Translate published an article about self-defence and on how cases related to the right to protect oneself can evoke passionate public responses. The article describes how then-released guidelines help authorities navigate cases involving the right to protect oneself and the determinations of when such a defense is justified.

As Daum points out, one remarkable feature of the 2020 guidelines is their explicit concern for public opinion. In light of some cases triggering massive public debates, the guidelines call for greater transparency in explaining the law to the public and on how verdicts are reached.

The 2020 guidelines are evident in this specific ‘train slapping incident,’ as it is clear that the reason for penalizing both parties was clearly communicated to the public as the incident went trending online.

“Brat children” (熊孩子)

Another reason why this particular incident received so much attention has to do with the issue of so-called “brat children.” In Chinese, they are referred to as xióng háizi (“熊孩子”), which literally means ‘bear children’ and is used to describe unruly, naughty children (often boys) who are prone to cause trouble.

In The Historical Dictionary of Chinese Culture (Sullivan & Sullivan 2021), it is explained that the rise of the “xióng háizi” phenomenon in China during the 2000s was due to the prevalence of a parenting style known as “soft-touch parenting.”

This approach to parenting was significantly different from previous decades and emphasized gentle and nurturing methods. As a result, many of these children, who are often only children who are pampered by doting grandparents, developed a reputation for their disruptive and self-absorbed behavior in public places (p. 130).

The behaviour of these “little brats” often makes headlines. Like the time when security cameras captured how a young boy urinated in an elevator and broke it, or when a little kid crashed and destroyed a Lego sculpture within an hour after it was displayed in a Chinese mall.

Many commenters on social media say that they have had it with these “little brats” and their parents. In one of her social media posts, Wang argued that there should be designated carriages for passengers traveling with children on high-speed trains to avoid bothering other passengers.

Brat children on the train (via

Regarding the incident, many people believe that the intensity of the argument was due to the fact that people have become increasingly intolerant of unruly children and their parents who fail to discipline them. Although Wang also slapped Yang, many people still side with her, saying they understand her frustrations and supporting her right to criticize the children and their parents.

One commenter (@陌川_MC) writes: “Lots of things are happening every day, yet why do we always see incidents involving ‘brat children’ pop up in the trending lists? The basic reason is that it strikes our travel pain point: we constantly get annoyed by little brats. Behind every ‘bear child’ there is a ‘bear parent.’ People are very disgusted with such parents, but can not do anything about it, which is why they cannot help but feel indignant when they see these types of incidents happening.”

“I was on a high-speed train for three hours yesterday, and all of these three hours a brat child was crying. Didn’t it wear him out? Even I was exhausted by listening to his cries, and the train attendants didn’t do anything about it.”

The hashtag “Should Trains Set Up Special Carriages for Children” (#列车有必要设置携带儿童车厢吗#) received comments from many people who applaud the idea.

“Dongbei Brother” (东北大哥)

One of the other reasons why the train slapping incident has become such a big topic is due to the role played by one of the passengers who stepped in and ‘mediated’ during the fight. As he comes from Northeast China, the man has now come to be known simply as the ‘Dongbei Brother’ or ‘Northeastern big brother’ (东北大哥).

During the incident, the man came up and meddled in the argument. Although ‘Dongbei Brother’ has become an online celebrity, netizens also accuse him of taking sides during the altercation, labeling the child as a troublemaker and completely ignoring the fact that Wang was filming the children and yelling at them.

Others suggest he only intervened to gain attention for himself and increase his social media following.

The man approaching in the yellow jacket is “Dongbei brother.”

In response to these accusations, then man said on a recent livestream that he only stepped in because he saw the two parties arguing and wanted to prevent the altercation getting any worse. The man also stated that he received a call from the child’s mother, thanking him for his intervention. Neverthless, in light of all the negative comments he received, he also stated that he would not intervene in similar situations in the future. That topic also went trending (#东北大哥称不想再管吵架事件#), receiving 180 million views on Friday.

Some people took the backlash against ‘Dongbei Brother’ as a lesson, suggesting that it might be wiser to avoid intervening in these types of disputes altogether.

Lastly, the recent incident not only sparked discussions on the issue of “mutual assault” and “brat children,” as well as the role of those who intervene, but it has also shed light on the issue of cyberbullying. The individuals involved in the incident have all faced online abuse, highlighting the harmful impact of cyberbullying.

Despite all the people who have strong opinions about the incident and the various people involved, there are also those calling on netizens to stay reasonable above all else. After all, the best thing people can do to set the right example for so-called “brat children” is to try and stay civilized online.

By Manya Koetse, with contributions by Miranda Barnes

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References

Daum, Jeremy. 2020. “Standing your ground, China Style.” China Law Translate, October 5 https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/standing-your-ground-china-style/ [May 12, 2023].

Sullivan, Lawrence R. and Nancy Sullivan. 2021. Historical Dictionary of Chinese Culture. New York and London: Rowman & Littlefield

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©2023 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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